Tuck and Patti

Early life

Guitarist Tuck Andress met singer Patti Cathcart at an audition in San Francisco in 1978. Prior to this, Tuck had studied classical music at Stanford and had been a session performer with The Gap Band, while Patti had been with The Brides of Funkenstein.

Music career

After relocating to Patti's hometown of San Francisco, Tuck and Patti worked as members of a Bay Area rock-cover band. "We burned up some time with this band," Tuck said, "and then we thought, 'Okay, what are we going to do? We need to make some money while we put together our [own] band—so let's learn some songs as a duo. And all of a sudden, we were out there performing as a duo, neither of us having any idea what we were doing, just figuring it out as we went."

As their fame around the Bay Area grew, they declined offers of recording contracts so they could polish their unique sound. Finally, in 1987, they signed with Windham Hill Records, with whom they recorded their breakout album Tears of Joy, which received airplay on jazz and pop radio stations around the U.S. They recorded several more albums with Windham Hill, then signed with Epic Records for an album in 1995. They followed this with more releases on the Windham Hill and 33rd Street Records labels. They now have their own label, T&P Records, which licenses their recordings for worldwide distribution.

They were married in 1983, and continue to appear at concerts and festivals around the world. When time permits, they also hold vocal and guitar workshops and teach privately.

Additional Information

Tuck Andress plays a 1953 Gibson L-5 guitar, which he originally acquired because it was the model played by his idol Wes Montgomery.

Tuck's niece is singer-songwriter Annie Clark, who performs as St. Vincent. As a teenager, Clark was a roadie for Tuck and Patti, and was later an opening act for the duo.

Discography